Tropical Bird Crafts

Birds are a fun topic for a preschool curriculum. There are many categories of birds and different ways to include birds into a classroom or at home.This article provides preschool craft suggestions for making tropical birds.

Flamingo Preschool Crafts

A Heart Shaped Flamingo: this craft works well for a bird theme, as well as for Valentine's Day. The following materials are required:

Each child will be provided two matching heart shapes cut from pink construction paper. The older preschool children can certainly achieve this step as well. Pink pipe cleaners will then be positioned with the tips placed inside the hearts. One pipecleaner for the neck, and two for the legs. The hearts will then be glued together, securing the pipe cleaners into place. The flamingo's head is provided where a black beak and googly eye is placed. The head is then attached to the top of the neck.


A Handprint Flamingo: in this craft, a preschool child's handprint dipped in pink paint is used for the body of the flamingo. The legs and head can be cut out from clip art or from pink construction paper.

Parrot Preschool Craft

For many parrot preschool crafts, the project begins with the basic body of the parrot. The parrot shape can be front or side view, flying or perched.


Once the shape is chosen, cut out one for each child with color construction paper, such as orange or red. The children can then decorate the parrot using color material that can be glued onto the bird shape. Some examples are:

• feathers, found at craft stores
• strips of crepe paper
• tissue paper
• yarn
• strips of construction paper
• glitter glue
• rhinestones
• buttons

Peacock Preschool Crafts

A paper plate can be used for a body to make a peacock craft. Have a blue body shape available to glue onto the paper plate for the peacock's body. Then the rest of the paper plate can be decorated to make the beautiful feathers. The feathers can be created simply by using felt markers, crayons, bingo markers or paint. Other craft material, as above, could be used as well. The children can finish by making the face of the peacock by drawing or using googly eyes.

OR use a coffee filter, and blue and green colored water with eyedroppers!

Tippy Toe Crafts

Another suggestion for making a peacock is to allow children to finger paint with different colors to make the feathers of the peacock.

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Old Macdonald Had a Farm: Puppet Templates

Old Macdonald Had a Farm is such a classic children's songs. Singing the song with puppets or felt pieces is greatly enjoyed by young audiences! Additionally, if a child can have his/her own puppets then it will contribute to learning the song, identifying the animals and language development. There are many variations of puppets, one of my favorite is the glove puppet as discussed in my previous blog entry.

Another idea for making puppets to sing with Old Macdonald Had a Farm is to use large popsicle sticks and the template below.  Simply copy this template, make your own or find pictures offline. Print onto firm paper. Color the images and then preferably laminate the entire page. Cut out the pieces and glue to the sticks. Voila.

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Children Counting Songs for Hand Puppets

Young children love singing and puppets, and combining the two provides an entertaining and learning experience for toddler and preschool ages. Many songs for puppets involve counting and numbers.

The puppets provide young audiences a visual presentation of things being subtracted and added while the number is being sung, thus fostering the development of math concepts and skills. The following article focuses on glove and stick puppets for songs that involve counting.

Finding the Puppets

Many puppets can be purchased, but they are also easily made. Glove puppets can be made by using a garden glove and felt pieces or other material glued to each finger. Some glove puppet makers use pom poms and googly eyes to make animals.

Stick puppets can be created with the use of large popsicle sticks or chopsticks and pictures on firm paper, preferably laminated, attached to each stick. Pictures can be downloaded on the computer or coloring book images can be copied. Alternatively, foam is a useful craft material for making stick puppets.

Singing with Puppets

In early childhood settings, the adult caregiver will use the puppet as a visual presentation for the young children to enjoy. In smaller group settings or home environments, the children themselves can be the puppeteers.

Either way, number recognition with the use of the puppet and lyrics still occurs. The songs can be sung by all those participating or listened to through recorded music. One album which holds a fair amount of songs appropriate for glove puppet use is Raffi's Singable Songs albums which can be bought in a collection containing all three CDs or by purchasing the individual albums.

Counting Songs with Things that Grow

The following songs correlate well to glove puppets and stick puppets, and they can all be used as poems instead of singing.

"Five Little Pumpkins"

Five little pumpkins sitting on the fence

The first one said, “Oh my it’s getting late”.

The second one said, “There are witches in the air”.

The third one said, “But we don’t care”.

The fourth one said, "Let’s run and run and run”.

The fifth one said, “I’m ready for some fun”.

Ooooh went the wind, and out went the light

And the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight.



"Way Up High in an Apple Tree"

Way up high in an apple tree

Five little apples working looking at me

I shook that tree as hard as I could

And down came an apple, mmm, it was good.

Continue singing down until there are no apples left.

"Five Tulips in the Ground"

Suggested tune: "Down By the Station"

Five tulip bulbs planted in the ground,

Waiting very quiet without a sound.

The sun came up and the rain came down,

And one little tulip popped out of the ground.

Puppet Songs about Animals

The following songs are appropriate for counting and number recognition for they are about animals leaving and sometimes returning. By clicking on the title, the reader will be connected to further information, such as lyrics and tune.

• "Five Green and Speckled Frogs"
• "Five Little Ducks"
• "Five Little Monkeys"

Toddlers and preschool children learn through play, and the use of puppets to teach math concepts falls into this theory incredibly well. The puppets can easily be made and presented to young audiences with songs enjoyed through singing and listening.

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